(USA TODAY) U.S. consumers are paying all-time highs for gasoline in 2012, but they are about to get a break for the holiday season: $3 a gallon gas in much of the country.

With U.S. supplies rising and demand fizzling, wholesale prices are sinking fast and will soon be reflected at the pump. Now averaging $3.37 a gallon nationwide, prices are expected to drop to about $3.20 a gallon within the next two to three weeks.

Consumers in many states could find prices at $3 a gallon or even less in many states, says Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information Service.

“We’ve gone from an industry that was worried about enough gas to one wondering how it will deal with all of this gas,” Kloza says. “And we haven’t seen the bottom yet.”

In California, Oregon and Washington — where motorists were forking out up to $5 a gallon in October due to oil refinery problems that forced long lines and closures at some outlets — there’ll be even greater relief.